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When I reread my old blog sometimes it strikes me as funny and sometimes it just strikes me as sad. I think I honestly believed all of the things I wrote back then. I believed that Oli was learning to walk and talk. I believed that it was still possible for her to just one day catch up to other children her age. Even though by the time she was 2 it was clear that she would not.

I was probably moving into denial at that point. I bounced around the first 3 stages of grief frequently in the beginning of Oli’s life. One moment I would be in denial and isolation and the next I would be angry. And then I would move into bargaining only to be swung back into denial. Most frequently I found myself in depression. Only recently have I moved on to acceptance and haven’t looked back since.

I didn’t know any of this then though. I didn’t consciously realize that I was grieving and nobody told me.

I thought maybe I just had bad coping skills (which I did) or that I was a bad person and a bad mother.

To combat my inner feelings of inadequacy, I told the world that everything was amazing. I tried to convince them that this was my lot in life and I whole heartily embraced it and was moving forward. I tried to convince you so maybe I would begin to convince myself. I thought that the more I tried to sell everyone on my fineness, the more fine I would eventually become.

It didn’t work out that way at all. The more I lied and faked happiness the more alone and miserable I became. By not letting anyone in, I isolated myself so deeply that I became entrenched in the quicksand of grief. Every move I made and word I spoke sucked me down and eventually had me suffocating on my own fine-garbage, happy-lie vomit.

As I move forward and continue my story I have to read the old blog to A.) remember what the hell happened 3 years ago because so much has happened since and B.) because it reminds me of that grieving process and I can clearly see it now in my writing. I can read a post from back then and see: lies, hope, sadness, fear, optimism, bargaining, pain, denial, anger, and a sense of being lost.

The one thing I don’t see in any of the old posts are real, genuine feelings. I see a bunch of words on a computer screen attempting to fool the world into believing that I was okay.